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A Good Time to hit the lead

This event was held over the weekend of June 16^th and 17^th at the Hamilton Bridge Club. It was run as an 11 round Swiss of 9 board matches with 58 pairs competing. Grant Jarvis and Ian Berrington hit the front at just the right time (they had also led at other times during the event) and won the event by the narrowest of margins. The unlucky pair, pipped at the post, was GeO Tislevoll and Michael Ware, who had led most of the way.

1. Grant Jarvis – Ian Berrington	145.15
2. GeO Tislevoll – Michael Ware	144.64
3. Pam Livingston – Jan Cormack	140.19
4. George Masters – Russell Wilson	134.33
5. Mark Robertson – Sylvester Riddell	129.02
6. Andi Boughey – Matthew Brown	128.40
7. Matthew and Mairi Bristow	127.89
8. Michael Curry – Pam Canning	124.88

 

                           
Grant Jarvis                                                  Michael Ware....so close but no victor's
                                                                    microphone this time.
                                                             

Grant cites the following board as an example of never giving up.

 

It was a board most East-West pairs would love to forget as they finished in a spade game or partial, often doubled, and many down. Only one East-West pair managed a positive from the low level of 2. After his partner’s 3 overcall of the club pre-empt, Grant (West) tried 3NT to protect his club holding. He duly received a club lead and tried spades…but the news was immediately bad.

It got worse when he went up with his ace and turned his attention to hearts and duly finished 5 down, -500. This was only a loss of 3 imps against the field but Grant reflected that had he either given South their K immediately or ducked a diamond at trick 3, he would have finished only 3 down, and a positive datum. It was, though, just a little cruel that the pre-emptor had a triple hold in hearts.

There were few datum imps traded when Grant and Blair played Liz and Blair Fisher in the last round (Grant and Ian won 20-6). 5 priceless ones came their way on Board 12. What bid would you make as South with the following:

 A94     -           J6         AKQT8763 after a standard Multi sequence where West’s only option is a weak 2 in a major:

West                     North                    East                        South

2                           Pass                       2                           ?

Ian Berrington had this problem and elected to make a strength showing double. He would not have been elated when everyone passed that bid! Had he bid 3, he might have played there for a positive part-score or else finished in 3NT, making unless West was inspired to lead a diamond, or else too high in clubs. These were the four hands with Grant (North) having trumps under control!

 

No doubt, Blair Fisher (East) had wished he had chosen the option of passing the 2 opening.

The contract failed by just one trick, Ian’s hand contributing just two defensive tricks. However, any plus score was great as it earned Ian and Grant their 5 imps, the most they got from any board in the match.

However, the following board from the penultimate round had a big impact on the final result. How would you play 7 on the following cards? The lead is a trump from either seat.

 

The opposition has remained silent throughout. Let’s say West is the declarer.

It seems reasonable to draw trumps (that takes three rounds), and in the process discard a heart on the K and cash your top two hearts. You finish in the East hand, ruff the hearts good and ruff a diamond to the East hand, discarding West’s remaining two diamonds on the established hearts.  A pretty good grand slam which, alas, failed because the top two hearts had to be cashed before the last trump could be drawn….and on the second round of hearts, South used their remaining trump to good effect:

 

Ruffing three diamonds in the East hand does not work, either, as after successfully ruffing three rounds, declarer must play a second round of hearts to get back to the West hand to draw the remaining trumps..and guess what happens when you do! Simiilarly, simply drawing trumps does not leave you enough entries to the East hand.

None of the pairs in the "grand" found the solution which involves ruffing just two diamonds in the East hand and not touching clubs. After two diamonds have been ruffed and declarer returned to hand with dummy's last trump, these cards remain:

 

West will now cash all three spades and the K. North has to keep the Q and must find three discards. They can throw one low heart and the 7 but the third discard has to be a club. West can throw three hearts from dummy when they see that North is guarding that Q….and South? They have to find three discards but must retain K. All three must be in clubs. Therefore, declarer’s 13^th trick becomes the 8. Not easy, is it!

All those defending 6 including Michael Ware – GeO Tislevoll lost 11 imps when seven declarers failed in 7 and four more missed slam altogether. Grant Jarvis- Ian Berrington picked up 11 imps for being in 6.

Of course, there would be other boards which had a significant bearing on the final result though the above one certainly featured prominently.

Such are the vagaries of Swiss Pairs. You want to play the in the right seat against the right opponents at the right time and preferably have better cards than one’s opponents. Nevertheless, it is a challenging and enjoyable way of playing our game.

Richard Solomon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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